Active rheumatoid arthritis: recognising and managing a flare

Activity can vary from a limited flare to inflammation affecting several joints and daily function. The goal is to settle inflammation, preserve movement, and reduce ongoing joint damage.

Rheumatoid arthritis commonly presents with pain, warmth, swelling, and stiffness in multiple joints, often in a similar pattern on both sides. The hands, wrists, and feet are frequently involved, and morning stiffness may make dressing, gripping, or walking difficult. Fatigue and a general unwell feeling can accompany joint inflammation. Symptoms alone do not establish the cause because infection, injury, and other forms of arthritis can produce overlapping changes.

Contact your rheumatology team if swelling, stiffness, pain, fatigue, or loss of function is increasing. Continue prescribed disease-modifying medicine unless the treating clinician tells you to pause it, and discuss any missed doses, infection symptoms, or side effects. Record which joints are affected and how symptoms alter sleep, mobility, work, or self-care. Gentle movement can limit stiffness, while temporarily reducing aggravating loads may help during a flare. Anti-inflammatory medicine can ease symptoms for some people but does not replace disease-modifying treatment.

A suddenly hot, very painful, swollen joint with fever or chills needs urgent assessment because a joint infection can resemble a flare. Obtain prompt medical advice for new eye pain or vision change, weakness, numbness, breathing difficulty, chest pain, or a severe reaction after medication. If you take medicine that affects immune function, report fever or other signs of infection to the prescribing team promptly and follow their instructions about the next dose.

Ask how current disease activity will be judged, whether blood tests or imaging would change the plan, and when treatment should be adjusted. Discuss which exercises are suitable during a flare, how to distinguish expected medicine effects from warning signs, what vaccinations or infection precautions apply to your specific medication, and whom to contact if symptoms worsen between appointments.